Automation

Saw this indie film a few months ago. It's a nice throwback to the fun horror we used to watch back in the day. Great pacing and campy!

Firstly, I am biased. I grew up on B-movies. And this one takes me back with a nostalgic smile. The movie has so much bad to it that it's almost laughable, but when adjusting your lenses to "B", then it kinda pulls it off. Yes, the acting is stinted. But still enjoyable. The script? What script? Some of the snippets are choice inputs for memes! Yet, with everything going against it, I could still watch it to the end. This is a sci-fi movie for B-movie fans. If you cannot deal with the "B", it's not for you. For me, out of all the rubbish out there, this was recyclable. It didn't need to be unique. It just needed to be honest. And it will get you to rate other movies more honestly too. When you see bad, you appreciate good all the more.

The only review you need to read is the 8/10 by Insprivet, I second everything he said above my own review.

Automation was certainly budget but low experience actors aside it was also thoughtful and well paced. The film rounded out nicely at the end and was thematically consistent and well balanced. I had a couple of niggles with the Sci-Fi technical aspects but I was happy to put those aside because even if the script wasn't 1st class, thematically it was intelligent and gave rounded perspective of the complex subject of sentient AI and how such a scenario may play out.

Above all and most importantly I did not feel robbed of time and I did feel moved to comment here. Take that for what it is, watch it yourself and make your own mind up.

I'm sure we have all looked at the famous actors and thought that acting is easy and we could all do it. Well, the totally atrocious 'acting' by every cast member puts paid to that idea. Watching somebody really bad at something makes one realise how difficult it really is. To add insult to injury, the script is naff as well as the story. This has no redeaming features and really deserves no stars.

The movie is terrible in just about every way but it remains fun to watch, for instance while getting drunk and with a group of friends. It's completely predictable and a total farce. The level of effort is minimal in just about every way. But then, it's sort of like the old Godzilla movies where you can even see the zippers on the costumes. It doesn't even try to be serious at all - the result is just a relaxing and fun to watch film. The film is satisfying because it delivers what the audience is there for - to see what happens when the AI involved with a robot malfunctions and the consequences unfold. So watch it with minimal expectations and enjoy the romp, or otherwise just don't bother. Now, having said all the above, this movie has a subplot, which is a love story and it's actually very sweet - the robot develops real feelings for a girl in the movie and she's a bit of an unrecognized artist and she reciprocates in a certain way because she feels appreciated. It gives the movie an unexpected depth, so if you can look past the veneer there's a pretty good movie here.